1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a faucet, and, more particularly, to a docking collar for a pull-out spray head.
2. Description of the Related Art
A docking collar may be used to releasably mount a pull-out spray head to a spout of a faucet. Typically, the docking collar includes a plurality of cantilevered, flexible snap fingers which are engageable with recesses or the like in a portion of the pull-out spray head which fits into the collar. The snap fingers rely on the inherent resiliency of the plastic material of which the collar is made to produce a retaining force. This retaining force, while enough to hold the spray head on the spout, can be overcome when a user wishes to release the spray head from the spout. Release of the spray head is achieved by pulling outwardly or downwardly on the spray head until the snap fingers are forced to flex out of the mating recesses.
One problem with such a snap finger arrangement is that the retention force is produced solely by the flexibility of the cantilevered fingers. One attempt to overcome this problem is to place an elastomeric O-ring at a point where the O-ring surrounds and engages the snap fingers to bias the snap fingers toward the recesses in a portion of the pull-out spray head. However, such a design still relies on the engagement of the plurality of snap fingers with the recesses associated with the pull-out spray head to retain the spray head in a mounted relationship with the spout.